The World History of the Jewish People, Volume 7, The Herodian Period, by Michael Avi-Yonah ( HC, 402 pages, 1975, $3)
SOLD - The American Jew: A Reappraisal, edited by Oscar I. Janowsky (HC, 1964, $2.50) Janowsky asks, "Who and what is an American Jew?" (as well as how do you fit the answers into less than 500 pages). Do the authors' writings that he includes answer the question? How are they wrong? When are they right? And how has the answer changed after almost 50 years?
Send These To Me: Jews and other Immigrants in Urban America, by John Higham (SC, 1975, $2)
Higham grew up in Queens with most of his friends being children of immigrants. Ever since, he has reflected on the immigrant's clash and connections with their new home. His work specifically targets the immigrant Jewish community, but he also talks more generally. This is the journey of America's push toward assimilation in the 1950's, to the strengthening of ethnic identities in the 1970's, to what Higham hopes will be a future of "increasing ability to tolerate ambiguity." 35 years later aren't we still asking the same questions, and hoping the same hopes?
SOLD - Blood to Remember: American Poets on the Holocaust, edited by Charles Fishman (HC, 1991, $2.50) SOLD
Fishman wants us to remember "history's darkest child" by listening to the voices of American poets.
The House on Garibaldi Street: The First Full Account of the Capture of Adolf Eichmann, Told by the Former Head of Israel's Secret Service, by Isser Harel (HC, 1975, $3)
How did they find him? This is the story, but not a Hollywood one. There are delays and problems, small and large. The "heroes" are "touchingly human, so vulnerable to fear, despair, and ultimately exultation." From the planning stage, to the first tentative identification (by a blind man!), to the flight back to Israel, this is a story of justice found.
